Counter Pedophilia Investigate Unit

New child advocacy centre to open in new year

A dramatic rise in crimes against children is prompting Calgary police to bump up its child abuse unit.

The addition of seven investigators, nearly doubling the unit, is designed to help police deal with an increasing workload of disturbing cases of violence against youngsters. (more…)

A former Canadian hockey player addressed U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday with a message they would do well to heed.
In fact, Sheldon Kennedy’s message should be taken to heart by legislators everywhere.

Kennedy, the former NHL player who was one of the sexual abuse victims of former hockey coach Graham James, told the U.S. Senate subcommittee on children and families it’s important to “empower the bystanders” – those who have suspicions that children are being sexually abused. (more…)

WINDSOR, Ont. — Two sexual assault victims of a convicted Ontario priest launched separate $3-million lawsuits Thursday against the man, known in the 1950s as “Happy Hands” for his tendency to touch students.

The civil suit by Patrick McMahon, 43, against pedophile Rev. William Hodgson Marshall, also names the Basilian Fathers of Toronto and Catholic Bishop Ronald Fabbro. It alleges neither did anything to prevent Marshall from abusing children. (more…)

It will inevitably be called a dark moment for hockey, as if Graham James’ serial sexual abuse of children was a perverse anomaly.

It’s worse than that. It’s a dark moment for everyone, though we are learning that this sort of shadow finds too many corners in locker rooms.

Once again, former junior coach James stood in front of a judge on Wednesday and was convicted of sex crimes. The court sat in Winnipeg. James blandly delivered his lines via video link from Montreal, where he is free on bail. (more…)

Pedophile says he’s just a ‘sex addict’

An elementary school janitor and pedophile should be sentenced to 12 months in jail, a prosecutor argued Wednesday.

Michel Mallette told a probation officer he was “bored” stimulating himself on his webcam and decided to “up the ante” by asking an undercover detective he believed was a child if she’d reciprocate. (more…)

At least two lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of Canada over a scout leader who molested dozens of boys in northern Ontario and Manitoba First Nations communities have been quietly settled out of court, CBC News has learned.

The civil suits pertain to Ralph Rowe, a former Anglican priest, pilot and Scoutmaster. He’s one of Canada’s most prolific pedophiles, but not well known outside of the northern communities where he used his positions of authority to prey on boys.

Investigators suspect Rowe molested more than a 100 victims over the years, while mental health authorities in the north say the tally could be as high as 500. (more…)

U.S. authorities say their online portrayal of Ontario as a haven for child-sex tourism helped them catch four predators.

The controversial website set up by the Department of Homeland Security was for the bogus firm Precious Treasure Holiday Co., which promised to arrange illegal encounters in Ontario for pedophiles.

The 19-month-long undercover operation yielded more than 140,000 hits and led to four arrests and convictions, but it has come under criticism on this side of the border because of how Ontario was depicted. (more…)

Accused of indecent abuse at Beauval Indian Residential School

A Vancouver man at the centre of a residential school abuse case in Saskatchewan has a history of abusing boys elsewhere in Canada.

Paul Leroux, 70, was charged this week by the RCMP with 13 counts of indecent assault, involving boys attending the Beauval Indian Residential School in the 1960s. He was a dormitory supervisor at the school. (more…)

Convicted pedophile Kenneth Richard Cooke is no longer volunteering at Airdrie Alliance Church, a board spokesman for the church has confirmed.

In a written statement, Airdrie Alliance Church board spokesman Craig Fisher confirmed that Cooke, a 77-year-old convicted pedophile, is no longer volunteering at the church in any capacity, and has never volunteered in any of the church’s children or youth programs. (more…)

MONTREAL – A judge is to decide next month whether a 72-year-old man should serve a lengthy prison term for his enormous collection of child pornography – uncovered in an investigation that also revealed he sexually abused a 3-year-old girl.

Prosecutor Rachelle Pitre argued at the Montreal courthouse Wednesday that an eight-year prison sentence is appropriate in Gabriel Cantin’s case, despite his age, because he still tries to minimize the impact of his crimes and refuses to address his apparent obsession with child pornography. (more…)